Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Vega ❯ Running ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: The Pretender belongs to TNT and it's creators. Dragonball Z belongs to Akira Toriyama, Toei Animation and FUNimation. No copyright infringement is intended and no money has changed hands.

Author's note: I tried to write this story once before. I never got beyond the first introductory chapter, and that wouldn't have been fair to try and publish it. So, here I am, and the idea is running through my head again, so I think I'll take the hint and get it in cyberspace. R&R, please!

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CHAPTER 1: RUNNING
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As Jarod ran from his pursuers, he figured that this was one of his closest calls. He knew that he could easily escape them if he dropped the bundle in his arms, but he couldn't do that. The bundle was a child, his child, and there was no way he was going to let them get their hands on her again.

Six years before, the Centre had discovered a downed space craft in the Arctic. Inside had been a stasis chamber, like a cold sleep capsule, but the humanoid woman inside had been killed in the crash. Her cells, however, were completely intact, including her ovaries. Tests on the alien woman showed that her species were very powerful. Muscle density was ten times that of humans and there were strange cells dispersed throughout her body that contained high concentrations of acids. Each one was a miniature organic battery. Everything about her screamed warrior. The Centre had been unable to resist the temptation to use her.

Under Dr. Raines' direction, the alien warrior's DNA was mixed with Jarod's in order to combine strength and intelligence. After only three attempts, a child was concieved. But the Centre still had it's security problems, one of which was the empath Angelo. Knowing that Jarod would not want his daughter growing up in the hands of the Centre, he had told the Pretender what was going on.

The baby had been born only three days ago. Jarod had known of her existance for a week before that. He'd worked with Sydney, Brutes and, surprisingly, Miss Parker to get himself into the Centre and kidnap the infant from them. Parker had said that she was doing it for two reasons: her mother would have wanted it that way, and there was no way that she was going to leave a child who would become that powerful in the hands of the Centre.

She was his daughter. He had stolen her from the Centre when she was only hours old, having been born from a sarogate mother, and they had been on the run together for the entire time. But he was running out of options. If he didn't find a way to put some distance between himself and his shadows, so that he could skip the country quickly, they would catch him.

The baby had wakened from her sleep to the pounding of her father's feet. She was used to it for the most part, and she would sometimes sleep through it, but today she woke, looked up at him and laughed. The sound made him smile. She might have been the product of Raines' insanity, but she had easily wrapped his heart around her littlest finger. Because of what her mother had been, he had named her Vega, which was a latin name that meant "Fallen Star."

Jarod looked up and spotted a possible refuge. It was Capsule Corporation's American headquarters. He knew for a fact that the company president, Bulma Briefs, would help him if she were there. Three years ago, he had saved her from being run over by an oncoming car, and she had told him that she would help him if he ever found himself in need. That kind of asset was not one to use frivolously, but these were dire circumstances. He bolted for the door of the corporate building, ducking reflexively when he heard the report of a gun behind him. Damn, Willy. He's too damned trigger happy! He made it inside without any other shots being fired, and he got behind the receptionist's desk, knowing that it would only be a matter of seconds before they followed him inside. He said to the frightened woman, "There's three men about to come in here looking for me. They're shooting at me. I need to talk to your president, but they're right behind me. I need to hide under your desk until they go. Can you misdirect them for me?"

Gulping nervously, the woman nodded. He had just ducked down when Willy and two other Sweepers came through the (thankfully) mirrored glass doors. Willy shouted, "Which way did he go?" The receptionist pointed off to the stairwells on the north end of the building. They hared off in that direction, one taking the elevator and the other two taking the stairs.

Once they were out of sight, Jarod thanked the receptionist and stood up. She told him, "Mrs. Briefs' office is on the top floor, and it can't be reached by those elevators. It can my the stairs, but the other elevator will be much quicker and they'll have to shoot the lock off the door. I'll call Security and have them meet you up there." She handed him a key. "You'll need to put this into the keyhole inside the elevator. That will let it go all the way up. Her office is the last one at the end of the corridor."

He took the key and thanked her, then took off toward the southern elevators.

Trunks and Bulma were in America trying to solidify some of Capsule's holdings in the country. Trunks was learning the financial side of the business, though he didn't much care for it. He prefered the scientific side, playing around in the laboratories and coming up with new ideas, but he knew that, in order to take over when his mother retired, he would have to know every aspect of the company.

They were looking over some of the records when the phone rang. Bulma picked it up, not really taking her attention away from the papers in front of her. But her attention was quickly captured as the front desk receptionist told her what was going on. "Thank you, Stella. Call security immediately, have them intercept the ones on the fiftieth floor. My son will deal with the ones on the fifty-first." Then she hung up and turned to Trunks. "A man with a baby just came in and hid under Stella's desk. Three armed men followed him, and she misdirected them to the North stairs and elevators. The man is coming up on the Southern elevator. He'll get here first, but the two in the stairwell can shoot out the lock on the door."

Worried about a possible threat to his mother, Trunks nodded, going into battle mode. The men were probably all just humans with guns, but he opened up his battle senses to check for hi kis automatically. Surprisingly he found one, not very high, but higher than normal for a human, and it was coming from the South! This was wierd, but he wasn't going to question it just yet.

Soon, the South elevator pinged, announcing the arrival of its occupant. The man was tall, chisled features showing worry and fear. But the high power level wasn't the man's! It was the child's. As Trunks and Bulma watched in amazement, the baby girl yawned widely and wrapped her furry brown tail around the man's wrist. The child was Saiyan!

Well, how's that for an intro? Don't forget to review!